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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Masalit of Chad

The Masalit of Chad, numbering approximately 293,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a people whose oral tradition traces origin to Tunisia before migrating through Chad to found a Sultanate in Sudan's Darfur region in 1874, fighting off Mahdist and French incursions before formal absorption into Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in 1922. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Masalit is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Masalit

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Chad
People Cluster: Ouaddai-Fur
Primary Language(s): Masalit (mls)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 293,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG011404
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Pray for the Masalit of Chad

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Masalit
Language Family: Maban

100%
%
Masalit Speakers

Media Resources in Masalit:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Masalit:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Masalit bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Masalit are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Masalit:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Masalit of Chad

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
readEphesians 2:8-9

Pray that the lost among them will receive the gift of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, and be created for good works.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
readPsalm 127:3

Pray that God will bless this generation of children, that they will come to know Jesus early in life and follow Him always.

And God is able to make all grace about to you, so that having sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
read2 Corinthians 9:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will see that God provides for their needs and be content in His provision so that they may excel in every good work.

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
readActs 17:29

Pray that God will send out laborers to tell people of the one true God and, as the good news is shared, bring about repentance and belief as they turn from idols and follow Jesus.

Massalit Across Countries (ROP3 - 106392) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MasalitPG012099MasalitSudan491,000Engaged yet UnreachedMasalitSunni Islam
MasalitPG011404MasalitChad293,000Engaged yet UnreachedMasalitSunni Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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